It was another case of good wasn’t good enough.
Hawaii had good shot selection, good ball movement against a tenacious zone and good defense against No. 22 Virginia on Saturday afternoon. But what the Rainbow Wahine basketball team needed was extended periods of greatness, not just brief moments, at the Stan Sheriff Center.
60
VIRGINIA
43
HAWAII
TODAY:
Cal vs. Virginia, 3 p.m.; UH vs. Texas, 5 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center
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Despite sophomore forward Kamilah Jackson’s game-high 21 points and sophomore guard Shawna Kuehu’s career-high 13 rebounds, Hawaii dropped its fifth straight, falling 60-43 in Saturday’s second game of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Showdown before a crowd of 873.
Ataira Franklin scored 14 points and Lexie Gerson added 13 for the Cavaliers (5-1), who more than rebounded from Friday’s stunning 79-53 loss to No. 24 Texas.
Hawaii (1-5) finishes out the tournament today at 5 p.m. with Texas (4-1), which can win the championship with a victory. The Longhorns led just once — at the end — when edging California 61-60 in Saturday’s first game.
The Golden Bears (3-2) face the Cavaliers (5-1) today at 3 p.m.
The Wahine, undersized and undermanned (seven players), held their own against the deeper, taller Cavs for large portions of the contest. But cold shooting (24 percent from the floor) and colder 3-point shooting (1-for-15) prevented Hawaii from getting closer than nine in the second half.
"We were definitely in the game," said Jackson, who hit all 11 of her free-throw attempts. "What we need to do is put two good halves together.
"We did play good defense, but where we were 5-(foot)-10, 5-11, they were 6-1, 6-2."
Many of UH’s 23 turnovers came when trying to work the ball over Virginia’s wall of a zone. Still, Hawaii cut the deficit to 44-35 on a jumper by senior center Rebecca Dew with 8:24 remaining.
Ten seconds later, Gerson hit the second of her 3-pointers and it was 47-35. When Gerson nailed her third trey — Virginia’s seventh — the Cavs had their biggest lead of the half (54-37) with 4:26 left.
Jackson scored Hawaii’s last six points, four on free throws.
The Wahine hit 18 of 21 free throws.
"I attribute that to coach Da (assistant Houl), who works with our players on free throws," Hawaii coach Dana Takahara-Dias said. "Tonight, we won the free-throw battle and the rebounding war (42-36). But we shot poorly from 3-point range, and it’s hard to score points when you have cold shooting like we did.
"Still, we felt we were in the game. We tell our shooters to keep on shooting. Eventually, those shots will fall."
It may not happen today. Texas held Cal to 39 percent shooting Saturday and Virginia to 34 percent Friday.
"Texas is a good team, extremely athletic," Takahara-Dias said. "We’ve been talking about how this could be the toughest nonconference schedule in Wahine basketball history. That’s not an excuse. We’re looking to win, find that complete game."
Dew finished with 11 points for Hawaii.
In the day’s other tournament game, Chassidy Fussell drove the court for the winning layup with 71 seconds left to give Texas a 61-60 win over Cal, capping a comeback that saw the Longhorns down by as many as 14 midway through the first half.
Fussell finished with 15 points and Yvonne Anderson 14.